Building A Poetry Community
Michael Sedano
A frustrated Texas poet, on social media, asks "Why is poetry so unpopular?" It might
be that poetry is poorly taught and misunderstood, he guesses. The answer is
none of the above. Every community is home to numerous poets and writers, but
without an outlet to share their work, poets and writers remain silent and
some people will perceive a poetry desert and conclude that poetry is
unpopular. Clearly, there isn't enough poetry in the frustrated poet's
community.
Altadena, California models how communities across the nation can nurture
their local poetry and writing resources and create a thriving "poetry scene"
of readings, workshops, and publication.
Twenty-some years ago, Altadena might have looked like its own poetry desert
when the city's librarian, Pauli Dutton, invited poets she knew to share
poetry and cookies in the library's community room. Dutton and the Altadena
Library sponsored "Poetry and Cookies" readings for a couple of years. This
opened a door to a hidden community of poets that encouraged Dutton to
motivate the Board of Trustees of the Altadena Library District to sponsor a
Poets Laureate program and appoint the city's first Laureate.
The fourth Laureate in the program, Thelma T. Reyna, recruited an advisory
committee to grow the program, changing the informality of "poetry and
cookies" to The Altadena Poetry Review, whose outgrowth, in 2014, was The
Altadena Poetry Review Anthology.
The book has grown to be a local institution with a mission "to publish poets
and writers from Altadena, Pasadena, and LA County. We encourage and uplift
submissions from historically underrepresented voices including Black,
Indigenous, LGBTQ, people of color, and people of diverse age groups and
backgrounds."
Conducting workshops and coordinating readings, along with editing a book of
poetry, took on monumental proportions beyond the abilities of a single
volunteer poet. In 2018, the Board of Trustees appointed a pair of Laureates,
one to coordinate public events, the other to manage and edit the anthology.
Over the years, as the Laureate program's workshops and readings and
publications attracted more participants, that hidden community found the
light of day and now, annually, Altadena's Poet Laureate program produces a
critical mass of work demanding more time, more workshops, more pages. In
fact, 2024's Altadena Poetry Review Anthology (link) expanded to 300 plus pages and
over a hundred poets from across the country, including a few international
contributors.
That's the thing about deserts. They may appear barren landscapes, but give a
bit of water and the land explodes with life. Let Altadena be the model for
communities and libraries across the nation. Start small, work smart, watch
your desert bloom.
Here's a link to Altadena Library's poetry page where you will meet this year's pair of Laureates and explore links to
discover details on the program and its history, and read samples of the work
that comes out of a fertile landscape that's not unique to this corner of
California's San Gabriel Valley.
This year's Altadena Poets Laureate, Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon,
recently assumed their responsibilities. Their inaugural reading featured a
lineup of predecessor Laureates. La Bloga-Tuesday is happy to share the event
with you.
Nikki Winslow, Altadena Library District Director welcomes an enthusiastic
audience to this term's inaugural reading, "A Reading Honoring the History
& Poets of the Program."
Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon take the lectern in their introduction
as the current Altadena Poets Laureate. (link to their bios)
Founder of the program, Pauli Dutton, shares a brief history of the
laureateship. "The first year we had 12 poets, photocopies of the readings
as a handout, and, of course, luscious cookies. In 2004 we had 15 poets,
more cookies, and an attractive compilation of the poems which we printed
and catalogued. Thus, was born the first edition of Cookies and Poetry. We
made copies available for both checkout and reference so they could be
available in the library. In 2005 we took our publication to Altadena
printer Miss Dragon for a more polished look.In 2004 we chose our first Poet
Laureate, Ralph Lane and decided this would be a bi-yearly unpaid position."
Dutton is followed by special guest poet, Morgan Gaskell, recent
graduate of Pasadena High School who will attend UC Davis as a Wildlife,
Fish, and Conservation Biology major. 
At its Acme
by Morgan Gaskell
As hundreds of ANTI-LGBTQ+ bills have been been introduced and passed
in 36 states in 2024
alone, there is a growing fear among queer youth about our futures. I
wrote this poem to
Illustrate these recent attacks and my response to politicians across
the nation who have robbed queer youth of their childhood and
humanty.
This issue's at its acme, and it's ruining our psyche
Highest rates of nomelessness and suicide in the country
Why can't you just let us thrive in a world so set up against us?
Instead you pass these laws, force us to withstand prejudice
We don't see eye to eye 'cause you refuse to stare us in the face
We reason and plead just to make our case
That a wond with queer youth Is not one of danger
Yet you treat us with ignorance and anger
All your lies, time really flies when nothing's getting done
Another life taken and another one gone
You make it illegal to get care, so for other states we run
Decades of progress now being undone
I think we've had our share of violence and discrimination
Our queer elders have lost their lives for our rights in this nation
You continue to chastise us, battering down on a supposed sin
You polarize the climate of the States, where should I even begin?
When we're out in public out of fear we are anxious
You don't have to understand us, but you have to respect us
We have to exalt our community because no one else will
How are we even arguing about this still?
All these bans recently has other countries asking if we're okay
You keep telling people to pray the gay away
Heartening to hear some states will remain safe
But the number of people you displace?
Will you stare us in the face?
Or continue to look down on us, throw slurs at us, kill us
You've created a wall, so straight up it we will climb
The impacts of your bans are far from benign
Will there be any justice before you decimate queer youth?
Will you listen to the truth?
You're creating massive devastation
Will there be any justice in this nation, any justice in this nation?
Carla Rachel Sameth, with Peter J. Harris, served as 2022-2024 Co-Laureate.
Sameth shares a work from her collection,
Secondary Inspections (link).
June 2020: Alarm goes off,
by Carla R. Sameth
I clutch my wife, remember
to breathe, remember
George Floyd, remember
Christopher Ballew
21, assaulted by police
up the street, in Altadena,
remember the names,
the deaths. Nonstop.
Fear floods in, room congested.
A poet wrote me a poem
that says think of your son
when you first wake up
and I do—but terror for
the risk to his soul,
his body, his skin.
This mom’s heart
tumbles, even with
my wife opening the curtain,
singing me good morning,
good morning, even with
wild parrots and cascading
Pasadena birdsong,
the cat kneading and purring.
Even then, I cannot calm
when my wife gets up to leave.
I see three missed calls last night—
probably just son telling me
about the latest protest.
He made me laugh
at the Highland Park march—
Mom, look. that white woman.
Full Black Panther regalia,
knee high black boots,
black coveralls and beret,
fist raised, standing in front
of that MLK mural on the wall
of that hipster coffee shop?
(Would it be her Instagram post?)
The woman, she looked at me, just said,
Your life matters.
Yes, it does, son,
and I imagine
telling him this every day,
what I’ve always
told him:
his life means.
But the words sink into fear,
get stuck in the throat,
legs still glued to the bed,
mind gripped by galloping thoughts.
I pull the blanket over my head.
Dr. Thelma T. Reyna, the 2014-2016 Laureate, manages Golden Foothills Press which
publishes the anthology. She shares this poem from her collection,
Rising, Falling, All of Us (link).
Growing Up Dusty in a Small Texas Town
by Thelma T. Reyna
Our ankles were always gray, caliche
dust swirling like guardian angels around twiggy brown
legs leaping potholes, tripping on dirt clods. Nine
children oblivious to what it meant to be growing up dusty.
In winter, rivers of mud separated us from Licha, Juan,
Susie. Dripping mesquite trees beckoned. Black puddles
dotted our ‘hoodscape far as child eyes could see, little
lakes navigated house to house as we grew up dusty.
When morning light tickled our bedfaces, dervishes danced
through cracks and chinks in sills and walls and floors and doors.
Grandma’s rag couldn’t stem the tide of constant coats
of dust as we grew up in our small Texas town.
On the other end were asphalt roads, mown lawns and
children with patent leather shoes that stayed black.
At school, only chalkboard dust bound them and us as
we grew up dusty in our small Texas town.
Hazel Clayton Harrison served as Co-poet Laureate in 2018-2020. La
Bloga-Tuesday apologizes for our failure to share Harrison's work from her
collection,
Down Freedom Road (link).
Linda Dove (link) holds
a Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature and has published five collections of
poetry along with a collection of scholarly essays. Dove's Laureateship included 2012-2014.
Mid-point
by Linda Dove
Now in the middle of my life
my journey is to forgive
everything that’s happened.
—Diana
Marie Delgado
Imagine having a job that dispenses forgiveness, like priest or sin-eater.
Bread balanced on the knife of the tongue, pre-swallow. I have consumed my
fair share of other people’s crimes. The more ground I gain, the more
their deeds dull, the more I understand the other side of the moon is an
imaginary place. I will learn to live without those gray fields, but there
are whole continents on this planet I won’t ever visit—news to my
10-year-old self, who stored dirt under her nails. I think of my
untraveled body as an iceberg, all the menace below. What of us ends up
rising? By the mid-point of any trip, I tire of regret, so the rest of the
journey takes place in my skin, a blue map that reads like a prayer. Its
words will extend beyond itself, absolve the feet that wanted to keep
walking.
first published in Club Plum, Issue Two, April 17, 2020.
Spring Poem
by Teresa Mei Chuc
The flowers are blooming
and so are the bruises
on her face
purple and pink like showy penstemon
and there is no where she could go
The bruises on her arm
the deep violet of prickly pear fruits
tender to the touch
The flowers are blooming
around her tent on the hillside
overlooking the freeway
sunflowers, each branch
carrying light
The robins, mockingbirds and blue jays
are singing
as his fist punches her
The flowers are blooming
fuchsia red
fairy duster red
on her skin
and there is no where she could go
Dedicated to our grandmothers, mothers, sisters and daughters
experiencing houselessness
#SheDoes deserve shelter, protection and compassion
Arts Leadership: Propaedeutic to A Laureate Program
Every community has people who write, or want to write, or want to write better, publish, and find a readership. Absent an established Laureate program, these gente can join writing programs to workshop among peers and grow their local literary community from drafts to published work.
Women Who Submit is a Southern California organization that outgrew its regional focus to form local chapters in thirteen U.S. states, and Europe.
Click this link for a list of local chapters.
WWS offers a model for communities not yet in a position to launch a Laureate
program, to develop local writers and get them published. Like Altadena's history, a Laureate program begins with a few writers and inevitably grows.
Women Who Submit seeks to empower women and nonbinary writers by creating
physical and virtual spaces for sharing information, supporting and
encouraging submissions to literary journals, and clarifying the
submission and publication process.
WWS HISTORY
Women Who Submit began with the idea of a submission party—the brainchild
of founding member Alyss Dixson—as a response to the VIDA count. Other
founding members, Ashaki Jackson and Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, were brought
in to help plan the first ever submission party held in Xochitl-Julisa’s
mom’s kitchen (thanks, mom!) in July 2011. On that day six women ate
quiche, created a sharing library of lit journals, set goals, asked for
feedback on cover letters, and sent off submissions.
La Bloga's Michael Sedano recently enjoyed an engaging afternoon with five
members of WWS at historic Campo de Cahuenga in North Hollywood,
California. Today, we happily share portraits of WWS readers. In future, La Bloga looks to share work by WWS writers in an Online Floricanto.
Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera
Roberta H. Martinez
SoCal Poetry News
Saturday, September 7, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Six-Word Memoir & Book Making Workshop led by Olga Garcia Echeverría
Join the Altadena Poets Laureate for a Six-Word Memoir & Book Making workshop led by poet Olga Garcia Echeverría. About the poet Olga Garcia Echeverría. She / Her / Ella. Creator and destroyer of language. Daughter of migrating dreams. Born and raised in East Los Angeles. Profesora, poeta, and dreamer. Ultra Libra in love with the ocean, the trees, and the honey-making bees. Come write six-word memoirs and make cardboard books with me! olgagarciaecheverria.com | IG @ogecheverria | X @OlgaMariposa. Audience: Adult (18+ Years Old). Event Type: Literature & Poetry. DIY & Crafting. Art.Saturday, September 7, 2024, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Main Library Community Room.
Submissions for Online Publication in Spring 2025 will be accepted beginning September 5, 2024. Guidelines will be published in the near future.
"Best Political Poet in America" To Be Honored
2 comments:
Wonderful post - thanks for info, the people and the cultura...
I love how you captured us in the midst of the sharing. Gracias.
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